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Months, not days: "Kinetic" Operations would seem to imply that things are actually moving. Thankfully you need to have boots on the ground or a Republican in the White House for the press to use the "Q" word.

Licensed coffin makers? Next thing you know, you'll be telling me you need a government permission slip to cut hair. Where do think you are? East Germany?

34 comments:

Windows will be a niche OS, but so will iOS/OS X. Windows Phone 7 never had more than a pittance of the market, and is steadily losing what it has and the desktop is losing importance.

Grain farmers et al. won't be using iPads, they'll be using Android tablets. iPhones and iPads will be to Android phones and tablets what Macs are to Windows PCs now. Android is well on the way to mobile computing dominance. Android doesn't need to be more "awesome" than iOS, it has to be good enough + cheaper.

Batesvill Casket has had such a lock on the industry for so long that hardly anyone wants to touch them. You want to see an industry that uses peoples misery to take advantage of them, look no further than the funeral industry. Smart cookies preplan their funeral so thier survivors don't have to spend $5k for that $800 casket. Bestpricecasket has been selling at 85% off "list" prices for years and making a killing.

Of course, you know you need to get a casket made by a reputable maker, or someone could- you know- DIE!!!!

There is no argument that there are a large number of installed and working desktops running Windows.

However, what is selling like hotcakes right now are smartphones and tablets. In the tablet front, Android is way behind iPad but gaining at a good clip. In smartphones, Android is just on the edge of exceeding 50% of all smartphone sales, and HP just killed off their webOS product line. Blackberry/RIM will die next.

The point is that the future of consumer computer electronics appears to be the smartphone/tablet form factors. And Windows won't be there.

The one thing that the apple apostles seem to always forget is that the majority of people that use a computer don't care about the operating system as long as it does what they want it to do. As long as they can surf their favorite web sites, send email to the family and balance the checkbook they're happy.

Of course the appleites won't be happy until everyone acknowledges that Steve Jobs is indeed the second coming of the messiah that will save us all from our dreary lives.

I see a full sized computer on my desk for quite a while to come. I also see it running Windows, because no one really cares and it works well enough. Hell, there isn't even a reason to move off XP yet.

At home, half the things I used to do on a PC are done by something else now, but if I want play an RTS or turn based game, or RPG, I use a windows desktop. Windows has improved their reliability to where it's "good enough" for just about everything.

The iPad is apparently the only tablet that people have found a use for, judging by market share (and no, having Angry Birds is not the be-all, end-all of apps). Also, studies have shown iOS users seem to be much more willing to pay for apps than Android users, and that iOS is a much bigger money-maker for developers, notwithstanding Apple's ~28% market share vs. Android's ~50%, leading to the inference, that there again, iOS tends to be better at doing things that people want to do on such a device.

I never said desktops (or laptops or netbooks) were going away nor that they weren't still dominant, just that they're diminishing in importance. IBM still sells mainframes and nobody writes smart phone apps on a smart phone. There's no way I'm ever going to choose to write code on a touch screen tablet. But a tablet with 16GB RAM, 2TB hard drive, and support for dual monitors, a mouse, and a real keyboard? I could plug that into some kind of dock and do everything I need. And it won't be running Windows.

All hard engineering software is still being written for windoze boxes. if you're doing serious cad/cam it's being done on a PC or on a SUN system.

OS-X is a good clean OS that is UNIX based, and frankly, very clean. As processor power increases I expect to see more of the CAD systems move to OS-X just because of the cleanliness of it, which would be wonderful from a speed standpoint, but it will still be hard ot get industry off the PC dime.

When they port Deneb, Catia, Cadra, Surfcam, Delcam to OS-X, I know one servo-jockey that will be swapping at lightning speed, not because I like Steve Jobs because I loathe him, but because I am an old Unix geek and love the cleanliness of it. No winrot, no 3gig of DLL's, none of that shit. And just to rub Seves nose in it, I'll probably do it on a hackintosh anyway.

I read far more of the HH books than I care to think about. I lost my respect for DW when he ended the war, only to fire it right back up in the next book. Haven't read any of them since. And yes, I also felt that the plots were fairly heavy-handedly contrived throughout.

On the other hand, I found this gem and almost could not put it down last night: http://www.amazon.com/Quarter-Share-Clipper-Trader-ebook/dp/B003KGBH3K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1313783752&sr=1-1

I also read this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XRE6W0/ref=docs-os-doi_0 and found it interesting. I may buy another of her books later.

RE Kinetic Operations: You don't seem to understand that the Anointed One has broken the Spacetime Continuum and is living on his own timeline. The NonWar in Libya is moving along at the same speed as his Economic Recovery Plans. Gods get to do that, you know. Just ask Nero.

But since such endeavors do take so much out of him, one should not fault him the time off needed after a grueling 3 Day Bus Tour. This explains his need to rest up on Martha's Vineyard, so as to take care of the next thing on his Agenda: Single-handily Stopping the Sun in its Rotation. Gods get to do that, you know. Just ask Caliguila.

It's good to be a God. Why else does he still hold 40% of the Electorate under his spell? Only Godhood fits the Bill. Just ask Zod.

I enjoy Weber books (I'm currently reading By Heresy Distressed, but it's a guilty pleasure. Sort of like David Eddings.

As for computing devices, I'm just glad we have so many choices. I can sit in my recliner with this laptop and read VFTP, or use my phone, or the desktop upstairs. Presumably I'll have a tablet one day, but for now I think I have enough options.

"you have to get them through licensed and bonded merchants of death instead. "

the FTC Funeral rule 16 CFR Part 453 requires that consumers may purchase caskets from third parties and the funeral home is required by law to accept them and use them. They're also required to inform you that in many municipalities embalming is not required, some places do not require caskets at all, and the funeral director must have a signed consent before he spends money on your behalf (Which you will then have to cough up later). This is a humongous ripoff industry, and it is the world's last chance to rape you before you get put into the ground.

I think that, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise (in other words, if we are spared), the industry is headed in the general direction of the dockable smartphones Motorola rolled out this year. If the dock itself could house the high end audio-video hardware (plus maybe an extra HD), leaving the processor, memory, and productivity/communications/browser in the portable gadget....